To-do lists on small office network

To-do lists on small office network

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We have a small office network of one server and 5 computers / workstations. We want to find some software to share to-do lists and possibly calendars.

Does anyone have experience of a basic software solution? The objectives are to be able to allocate and view other peoples to-do lists and maybe enter diary appointments etc if possible. We currently use outlook but are told we cannot link each machine up because our network is not sophisticated enough. The calendar option is a low priority, but the share to-do lists would be excellent.

Can anyone help please?
Simon Laskey

Replies (9)

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By Stewart Twynham
13th Oct 2004 14:12

SBS2003
Just to answer a few queries...

1) No-one seems to have mentioned that Small Business Server 2003 provides you with a built-in fully customisable intranet running on Sharepoint which includes to-do, calendar, file sharing and a host of other capabilities.

I wouldn't buy SBS 2003 *JUST* for this, however, if you were thinking of buying a server soon, then be aware this might solve your problem.

2) It's very easy to see emails of other people in Outlook / Exchange - you just have to tell outlook who should be able to see what (email me if you want to know how)

3) Outlook / Exchange in general. Having used Exchange heavily from version 4.0 in around 1996, it was certainly a welcome relief from Lotus Notes. From version 5.5 onwards (around 1998), an already stable product improved still further, and is in fact probably one of the most reliable products Microsoft have produced over the years (for a bloomin change!!).

The downside is, as explained, you really need to know what you're doing. If your IT supplier is at home with databases and really understands the comprehensive tools that administer Exchange, then you're probably in safe hands. If your supplier is simply a whizz at fixing broken PCs, then choose another product (or, indeed, supplier!).

Stewart Twynham
[email protected]

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By dclark
11th Oct 2004 15:10

Some replies for users....
Martin,

I did not make it clear on my reply that we resell Aladesc. However, I would point out that we used Aladesc for a while before re-selling it. I can press one button and see all the comments, notes, appointments, emails in, emails out, faxes, activities, alerts and other items for any customer for any data range for any user range on one screen. Invaluable for supporting the customer. That is standard on any version. v3 (we have beta version in the office) adds more to this

As to price....mmm.....I'd rate Moneysoft as one of the best payroll programmes out there, but it only costs £50 a year......I'd rate vPOP one of the best mailservers out there, but it costs £50 and I'd rate NOD32 as the best AV programme out there (indeed 27 VB100% Awards backs me on this one!) and at c£20 a user it is well priced. Pricing offers are for the seller to make. I'd happily bill 4x the amount to everybody who buys Aladesc, as it is worth it, but I can't !

Privately, I have had a number of emails from IT people who have said

1) they would not use Exchange with under 20 employees - thank you to Tom for loosing me with a long list of technical reasons why the wizards on W2003server are only part of the answer and to Viv for his comments
2) they would not attempt to maintain it without an IT bod on site or one online - hence why hosted solutions exist
3) apart from Calendars and Tasks, Exchange does not 'share' anything else...I can't see Dave's emails if I log in as me, unless he cc's me in on all his emails - hence why other solutions exist
4) 60:40 of the replies were in favour of having these type of services on a separate server, because of the drain on resources - answered by Luke saying 'a hosted solution addresses this', so I must have only seen the 60 !

Kind Regards

Daniel Clark
Ryba Macaulay Ltd
[email protected]

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By jonstanton
11th Oct 2004 11:42

Sticking up for Exchange...
MS Exchange has the ability to view other users calendars and to-do lists (Exchange refers to them as Tasks). The sharing can be set up so that only specified users have rights - so you can set up who can view the list and who can add or amend the tasks.

If you already have MS Small Business Server, then using Exchange may be cost-effective (it comes as part of the package). However to buy it just for this feature would work out an expensive option.

Therefore if you don't already have SBS and have no plans for expansion in the near future I would speak to Daniel about Aladesc.

Re Daniel's comments on Exchange - the sharing works by leaving the data on the server, and users read the data from there. You do not need to download the data to a pst file on the local machine.

For a small number of users (under 25) then SBS with Exchange should work fine without having to use another server.

For a small business I would normally recommend they install SBS on their first server - as it gives user-based security, as well as cost-effective access to Exchange, SQL and ISA if they are required.

Hope this helps.

Jon Stanton
IT Services Manager
Peters Elworthy & Moore

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By AnonymousUser
11th Oct 2004 14:01

Aladesc - swear at or swear by?
I am in the same position as Simon, although I rely upon a hand-written diary and post-it notes rather than Exchange.
I too have a 5 pc PtoP network on XP Home. I don't have SBS because the cost just for diary and FU notes seemed excessive.
Aladesc seems to be a bargain but I am cautious of bargains - esp as it is a product/company I have not heard of and their web site doesn't appear to have been updated since Nov 03.
Has any AWeb reader any experience of Aladesc?

Are there really only 3 solutions to this problem; Act 2000, Excange with MS SBS and Aladesc. Any further input by IT guys would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Martin

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By asdesign
11th Oct 2004 15:03

Exchange etc
Exchange is a powerful beast and having admired it at some multinationals, there are a lot of plus points to it. However once underneath the hood, unless you are IT literate, you can find that you are out of your depth very quickly. I remember well, being at a major internet search engine when Exchange corrupted, no mails for a day and a half and quite a bit of history disappeared.
A hosted solution certainly takes away the problem of system management and the heavy requirements of the Server to run it on.
Exchange will do nothing to help your company if, for instance you would like to see the interaction between say your support department and a customer, or to make it more complicated matter relating to an issue between supplier>>support and customer or Inland revenue>>internal>>client.
Exchange is a point to point solution, what emails has fred written, jim written etc not a sliced view across the organisation.
The messy answer to this in Exchange is CC: all and sundry which is why people like Siebel, Superoffice, Aladesc are doing so much business.

I understand that the latest version of Aladesc will be out shortly with extra features such as shared mail folders. One email in a folder called managers for instance where managers know to look at for important workplace issues, by viewing the status of this single mail it is then easy to see which mangers have viewed it and which have not. Try getting out of that one Mr manager "I have read it" "I didn't get the mail" etc.
Things that will not be changing in Aladesc are simple easy to use and maintain group Tasks and Calendaring with the option to spread those tasks amongst several people whilst maintaining an overview.
http://www.asdesign.f9.co.uk/aladesc.htm
Yours

Viv Burrows

[email protected]

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By dclark
08th Oct 2004 17:49

An alternative
There are always loads of messages saying "load Exchange and everything is OK, Outlook will share everything"

Lets be honest....

1) for the network gurus out there what is the lowest number of users you would consider warrant an Exchange solution and how much work is it to keep Exchange going

2) how often in your experience does an Exchange solution require a separate server to cover processing problems for other applications

2) what bits of Outlook are actually 'shared' (odd concept given each is a separate PST file) when you finally get Exchange in

I'm genuinely interested in the replies


Simon

I'd go for Aladesc every time. A five user licence to do what you wish and more is only £235. Everything is share-able - calendars, to do lists, contacts, emails, alerts, cases, bulletin boards......

Kind Regards

Daniel clark
Ryba Macaulay Ltd
[email protected]

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By AnonymousUser
08th Oct 2004 15:57

Intranet
May be beyond what you are looking for but assuming you have some form of web space there are a lot of free or near free solutions that can be put on a website.
The main advantage is via the web you can check on all the tasks you should have done from home (or even on the golf course with a decent PDA).
Plus I would check out the Outlook solution - I am not convinced that your IT support really knows what they are talking about.

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By AnonymousUser
08th Oct 2004 14:57

3 hours left to bid on
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=3773&item=7105659377&rd=1

we use ACT 2000 (pre sage days) diary, database and TO DO lists. works very well. Copies often available on e-bay for about £20, so could kit out your whole office for £100!

Database files kept on server, each user has a copy of software on their workstation.

Each user can see what everyone elses diary is, make appointments and add to their task lists.

Clients have been grouped by type and year end, so we can track filing deadlines.

We don't bother with the Sales cycle stuff.

ps its not me selling the above -

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By listerramjet
08th Oct 2004 14:59

?
If you have a server, then I can see no reason why you could not configure Exchange to enable Outlook to provide the solution. If you already use Outlook then it provides all the functionality to enable you to achieve your objectives. I'm not sure if you can share a todo list, but it does offer the ability to create tasks for multiple users, as well as task tracking, and you can certainly view others calendars.

You could probably set something simple up in Excel, and keep it on a shared drive. Limitation is that multiple people can view, but only one person (at a time) is able to edit- and you could use autofilter and conditional formatting to provide basic database functionality.

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